Bittersweet
by Pandora The Vampire
Summary: Shikamaru describes Ino to a complete stranger that is about to take her away... Shika/Ino COMPLETE


**Author's Notes: **I know, I know! I should be updating _Back for Good_! Don't kick me yet! This was just something I wrote on paper one night and thought that it was nice enough to post! I'll probably update _Back for Good _this week! Please read and leave a little feedback! I would love to know if you liked this! Thankssss!

**WARNING: **Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru are propriety of Masashi Kishimoto! The plot is mine! Oh! And one more thing: **English is not my native language, so there might be some mistakes!**

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"Young man." The owner of the crispy voice was a very short, very bald and very wrinkled old man. His eyes were so small that the wrinkles covered the most of them. They looked just like two lines in the middle of his face. His lips were thin, and yet, they were the bearers of so troublesome news.

The lazy leaf ninja sighed and stoop up from the couch he was waiting in. "Don't need to say more. I know why you are here. It's about Ino, right?"

The old man nodded and sat down. "I have been asking about her around town and every one, including her own father, told me that the one person that knows her best is you: Nara Shikamaru."

The young man sighed once more and started pacing around the living room. "What is it that you want to know, exactly?"

The man attempted a smile and proceeded. "I want to know everything there is to know about Yamanaka Ino. You can start with her personality."

Shikamaru seemed pensive for awhile. "You want to know everything about Yamanaka Ino?" He smirked. "That will take quite some time. We better get some tea."

He reached into the closet for a teapot, filled it with water and placed it on the stove.

"Let's see…" He leaned against the counter, keeping an eye out for the tea. "Ino is a very good friend. Always supportive, always has a word of comfort when one's in need."

"Is she loyal?"

Shikamaru smiled. "Very…"

_-*- Flashback -*-_

"_Come back here you blonde prostitute! If I see you near him again I will smack you in the face with…. With… with a shovel filled with manure!"_

_Shikamaru could only smile at the feeble attempt of jealousy by his teammate. "A shovel filled with manure…? Blonde prostitute…?"_

_Ino shrugged and got inside his house. "I couldn't think of anything else Shikamaru!" She sighed and sat down in his couch. "It's your fault, you know?"_

_Shikamaru almost choked in his tea. "What? My fault? Why?"_

_Ino poured a cup of tea for her. "Well, if you had told me with a little more time, I could've come up with a better story. But nooooooo."_

_Shikamaru could only stare at his blonde teammate while she started mimicking him. Poorly… _

"_It had to be: Oh, come quickly Ino! I'm being stalked by a girl and I need help getting rid of her because I am so __**scared**__ of girls and I need my heroine to rescue me! Ahhh! Come fast Super Ino!" She finished with a squeak of fear._

_Shikamaru sweat dropped. "What… the… hell… I didn't say that…!"_

_Ino munched on a few cookies and shrugged. "You may not have said those exact, but that's what it sounded like to me. You wuss!"_

_Then she laughed hard while Shikamaru argued with her about her lack of memory and ability to invent silly stories._

_-*- End of Flashback -*-_

"Yes, she can be very loyal. Also, she is smart, witty and can be a little impulsive from time to time."

"Can you please elaborate?"

Shikamaru smiled a soft smile. "She just jumps into situations. And she uses her impulsiveness in such an innocent way that it attracts you to her, even if you don't want to…" Shikamaru paused, reminiscing. "It's something in her aura. With her it's always go time. There's definitely not a dull moment in that girl's company."

The old man nodded. "Please continue."

"Well," Shikamaru stood up to check the tea. It wasn't ready yet. "She can also be very… girly…"

The old man seemed puzzled. "Girly?"

Shikamaru sighed and sweat dropped. "You have no idea…"

_-*- Flashback -*-_

"_Get the hell out of there, woman!" Nara Shikamaru was a very patient man. He loved strategic games, loved watching the clouds and lazing around all day. He barely got worked up over something and he wasn't one to loose patience over nothing._

_But Yamanaka Ino getting ready in the morning was a bit more than a simple nothing…_

"_Are you dead?" Shikamaru asked, trying to sound hopeful._

"_Ah! You wish!" Came a muffled reply from inside the bathroom._

"_Ino! You've been in there for over two hours…. You could test the patience of Buddha, you know?"_

"_Calm down, Shikamaru." She replied. "I'm almost ready."_

_Then she opened the door. She was still in her pajamas._

_Shikamaru sweat dropped. He couldn't believe what he was seeing."Just what in the world were you doing inside that God forsaken bathroom for two freaking hours if you're still in your PJ's, you troublesome woman?" He tried to ask in the calmest tone of voice he could muster._

_She smiled innocently. "I did my hair… how beautiful does my ponytail look?"_

_Shikamaru almost fainted._

_-*- End of Flashback -*-_

"Yes, girly. She just takes too damn long to get ready." Shikamaru grabbed the teapot and poured two cups of tea. He handed one to the old man who took it with a small thanks.

"Young man, by girly, you do mean that by taking so long to look good, she is very beautiful, right?"

Shikamaru sighed and sat down in front of the old man. "She is. Very much. But not because of all the time she invests in herself. She is much more beautiful without all the makeup."

_-*- Flashback -*-_

"_Gawd! I… hate… MISSIONS!" Ino yawned for the hundredth time. Her teammate raised a lazy eyebrow._

"_You hate missions? Then why in the world are you a Kunoishi?"_

_Ino sighed and tried to place a lost strand of hair back into its place in the messy bun atop of her head. _

"_You silly boy." Shikamaru frowned at the nickname. "I love being a Kunoishi! It's just that I never have time to do my hair right, or to apply makeup in the morning, so I look like this:" She pointed at her face, "All the time! And that's not pretty."_

_Shikamaru stopped walking and stared at her. "Not pretty?" To him she looked stunning. She was way more beautiful without tons of base on her flawless skin. Her eyeliner just hid her beautiful blue eyes and the lipstick she wore only made her lips puffy and ugly._

_To him, Ino without makeup was a Goddess. Her pearly white skin was so silky and perfect he could barely stand not to touch it; her blue eyes were so bright it almost hurt to look at; and her lips… so full, so moist, so perfect._

_Ino looked at him, waiting for him to continue. Shikamaru seemed to wake up from his reverie and simply shrugged. "You look the same to me, with or without makeup."_

_-*- End of Flashback -*-_

The old man seemed to be satisfied with Shikamaru's description. "But, young man, you make her sound so perfect. Surely she has flaws, no?"

Shikamaru leaned against the counter once more. "Everyone has flaws. And yes, Yamanaka Ino has many flaws. She is bossy; she gets angry easily and she is never satisfied until she gets what she wants, in her way."

He paused to stare at his tea.

"She can be very annoying; give you a lot of attitude and get on your nerves very often. She is loud, pissy and very troublesome."

The old man didn't seem to be very satisfied at this point.

"But that's what makes her perfect…" Shikamaru's eyes cast downwards. "She is… like… like something… bittersweet. That's it. She is bittersweet."

The old man blinked. "I don't understand what you mean, young man. Please, explain."

Shikamaru kept going, almost like he hadn't listen to the old man. "She can be so sweet that you never want to let her go, but then, the next second, she is bitter, and dark and bossy."

The old man seemed puzzled.

"She can tell you that you mean the world to her in one day, and in the next one tell you that she never wants to see you again…"

The old man didn't know Nara Shikamaru that well, but from what he could make of the man, he seemed really sad and affected by something.

"She can be so strong, secure of herself and proud one minute to be scared and lonely the next one." He sighed. "That's Yamanaka Ino for you… a bittersweet girl…"

The old man seemed to be at a loss of words, but Shikamaru wasn't.

"So, I know what your final question is. Is Yamanaka Ino good enough to marry the Tsuchikage of the Earth Country?"

Shikamaru opened the door and prepared to leave. "She is."

The old man nodded in satisfaction. He had completed his job: find a wife for the Kage. "Oh," Shikamaru looked back once more. "I just doubt that the Kage of yours is good enough for her."

And with that he left, leaving the old man alone in the room.


End file.
